The Brook Kerith: A Syrian story

  CHAP. XXII.

  Jesus did not speak about angels again, and one morning at the end ofthe week before going away to Jerusalem to attend to some importantbusiness Joseph, after a talk with Esora, turned down the alley with theintention of asking Jesus to leave Judea. It would have been better, shesaid to herself, if he had waited till evening; these things cannot besettled off-hand; he'll only say the wrong thing again, and she stoodwaiting at her kitchen door, hoping that Joseph would stop on his wayout to tell her Jesus' decision, but he went away without speaking, andshe began to think it unlikely that anything was decided. He issoft-hearted and without much will of his own, she said.... Jesus isgoing to stay with us, so we may all hang upon crosses yet, unless,indeed, Master comes to hear something in Jerusalem that will bring himround to my way of thinking. He believes, she continued, that Jesus isforgotten because the apostles have returned to their fishing, but thatcannot be; the two young women that came here one Sunday morning with astory about an empty sepulchre have found, I'll vouch, plenty of eagergossips, and a smile floated round her old face at the additions sheheard to it yester morning at the gates. But no good would come of mytelling him, she meditated, for he'd only say it was my fancies, thoughhe has to acknowledge that I am always right when I speak out of what hecalls my fancies. In about three weeks, she muttered, the stories thatare going the round will begin to reach his ears.

  The old woman's guess was a good one. It was about that time thecamel-drivers, assembled in the yard behind the counting-house, began totell that Jesus had been raised from the dead, and their stories, beingoverheard by the clerk, were reported to Joseph. The Pharisees are angrywith Pilate for not having put a guard of soldiers over the tomb, theclerk was saying, when Joseph interjected that a guard of soldiers wouldbe of no avail if God had wished to raise Jesus from the dead. The pointof their discourse, the clerk continued, is that no man but Jesus diedon the cross in three hours; three days, Sir, are mentioned as the usualtime. It is said that a man, Sir, often lingers on until the end of thefourth day. Joseph remained, his thoughts suspended, and the clerk,being a faithful servant, and anxious for Joseph's safety, asked if hemight speak a word of counsel, and reading on Joseph's face that he waspermitted to speak, he said: I would have you make an end of theserumours, Sir, and this can be done if you will attend the next meetingof the Sanhedrin and make plain your reason for having gone to Pilate toask him for the body. As it seemed to Joseph that his clerk had spokenwell, he attended the next meeting of the Council, but the business thatthe councillors had come together for did not admit of interruption forthe sake of personal explanation, however interesting, and the hostilityof everybody to him was notable from the first. Only a few personalfriends spoke to him; among them was Nicodemus, who would not bedismissed, but went away with him at the close of the meeting,beseeching him not to cross the valley unarmed, and if thou wouldst notdraw attention to thyself by the purchase of arms, he said, I will givethee the arms thou needest for thyself and will arm some camel-driversfor thee. I thank thee, Nicodemus, but if I were to return homeaccompanied by three or four armed camel-drivers I should draw theattention of Jerusalem upon me, thereby quickening the anger of thePharisees, and my death would be resolved upon. But art thou sure thatthe hirelings of the priests haven't been told to kill thee? Nicodemusasked. Pilate's friendship for me is notorious, Joseph replied. I'm notafraid, Nicodemus, and it is well for me that I'm not, for assassinationcomes to the timorous. That is true, Nicodemus rejoined, our fears oftenbring about our destiny, but thou shouldst avoid returning by thevalley; return by the eastern gate and on horseback. But that way,Joseph answered, is a lonely and long one, and thinking it better to puta bold face on the matter, though his heart was beating, he began tospeak scornfully of the Pharisees who, seemingly, would have consentedto a desecration of the Sabbath. He had done no more than any other Jewwho did not wish the Sabbath to be desecrated, and remembering suddenlythat Nicodemus would repeat everything he said, he spoke again ofPilate's friendship, and the swift vengeance that would follow hismurder. Pilate is my friend, and whoever kills me makes sure of his owndeath. I do not doubt that what thou sayest is true, Joseph, but Pilatemay be recalled, and it may suit the next Roman to let the priests havetheir way. I am going to Egypt to-morrow, he said suddenly. To Egypt,Joseph repeated, and memories awoke in him of the months he spent inAlexandria, of the friends he left there, of the Greek that he had takenso much trouble to perfect himself in, and the various philosophieswhich he thought enlarged his mind, though he pinned his faith to none;and reading in his face the pleasure given by the word Egypt, Nicodemuspressed him to come with him: all those who are suspected of sympathywith Jesus, he said, will do well to leave Judea for a year at least.Alexandria, as thou knowest, having lived there, is friendly tointellectual dispute. In Alexandria men live in a kingdom that belongsneither to Caesar nor to God. But all things belong to God, Josephreplied. Yes, answered Nicodemus; but God sets no limits to the mind,but priests do in the name of God. Remember Egypt, where thou'lt findme, and glad to see thee....

  On these words the men parted, and Joseph descended into the valley alittle puzzled, for the traditionalism of Nicodemus seemed to haveundergone a change. But more important than any change that may havehappened in Nicodemus' mind was the journey to Egypt, that he hadproposed to Joseph. Joseph would like to go to Egypt, taking Jesus withhim, and as he walked he beheld in imagination Jesus disputing in theschools of philosophy, but if he were to go away to Egypt the promise tohis father would be broken fully. If his father were to fall ill hemight die before the tidings of his father's illness could reach him; ayear's residence in Egypt was, therefore, forbidden to him; on the topof the Mount of Olives he stopped, so that he might remember thatNicodemus' disposition was always to hear the clashing of swords; spearsare always glittering in his eyes for one reason or another, he said,and though he would regret a friend's death, he would regard it as beingatoned for if the brawl were sufficiently violent. He has gone to Egypt,no doubt, because it is pleasing to him to believe his life to be indanger. He invents reasons. Pilate's recall! Now what put that into hismind? He may be right, but this Mount of Olives is peaceful enough andthe road beyond leading to my house seems safe to the wayfarer even atthis hour. He followed the road in a quieter mood, and it befell thatEsora opened the gates to him, for which he thanked her abruptly andturned away, wishing to be alone; but seeing how overcast was his face,she did not return to her kitchen as she had intended, but remained withhim, anxious to learn if the rumours she knew to be current had reachedhis ears. She would not be shaken off by silence, but followed him downthe alley leading to Jesus' cottage, answering silence by silence,certain in this way to provoke him thereby into confidences. They hadnot proceeded far into the wood before they came upon Jesus in front ofa heap of dead leaves that he had raked together. A great many hadfallen, he said, and the place was beginning to look untidy, so Ithought I would gather them for burning. Thou must not tire thyself,Joseph answered, as he passed on with Esora, asking her as they wentthrough the autumn woods if Jesus found the rake for himself or if shegave it to him. He asked me if he might be allowed to feed the chickens,she said, and I would have let him if Matred's window did not overlookthe yard. Master, the hope of getting him out of Judea rests upon thechance that he may recover his mind, and staring at the desert all daywon't help him. He musn't brood, and as there is no work like raking upleaves to keep a man's thought off himself, unless, indeed, it bedigging, I thought I had better let him have the rake. But if Matredshould meet him? Joseph asked. She will see the new gardener in him,that will be all. I told her last night, Esora continued, that we wereexpecting the new gardener, and she said it would be pleasant to have aman about the house again. But he musn't attempt any hard work likedigging yet awhile; he has done enough to-day; I'll go and tell him toput away the rake and pass on to his supper. She waited for Joseph toanswer, but he was in no humour for speech, and she left him looking atthe hills.

  A cloud
lifts, and we are; another cloud descends, and we are not; somuch do we know, but we are without sufficient sight to discover thereason behind all this shaping and reshaping, for like all else weourselves are changing as Heraclitus said many years ago.

  And while thinking of this philosopher, whose wisdom he felt to be moresatisfying than any other, he paced back and forth, seeking a littlewhile longer to untie the knot that all men seek to untie, abandoning atlast, saying: fate tied it securely before the beginning of history, andon these words he ran up the steps of his house, pausing on thethreshold to listen, for he could distinguish Esora's voice, andMatred's; afterwards he heard Jesus' voice, and he said: Jesus eats withmy servants in the kitchen! This cannot be, and he very nearly obeyedthe impulse of the moment, which was to call Jesus and tell him to comeand eat his supper with him. To do this, however, would draw Matred'sattention to the fact that Jesus was not of her company but of hermaster's, and distinctions between servants and master, he continued,are not for him, who thinks in eternal terms.

  He sat at table, his thoughts suspended, but awakening suddenly from areverie, of which he remembered nothing, he rose from his seat and wentto the kitchen door, regretting that he was not with Jesus, for to misshis words, however slight they might be, seemed to him to be a loss thatcould not be repaired. They are listening to him, he said, with the samepleasure that I used to do, watching his eyes lighting his words ontheir way.

  At that moment a shuffling of feet sent him back to his seat again, andhe put food into his mouth just in time to escape suspicion ofeavesdropping. I thought, Master, that thy supper was finished, and thatI might take away the plates. I've hardly begun my supper, Esora. Yourvoices in the kitchen prevented me from eating. We are sorry for that,Master, she replied. Make no excuses, Esora. I said it was the voices inthe kitchen that disturbed me, but in truth it was my own thoughts, forI have heard many things to-day in Jerusalem. Esora's face brightenedand she said to herself: my words to him are coming true. Sit here,Esora, and I'll tell thee what I've heard to-day. And while Matredlistened to Jesus in the kitchen Esora heard from Joseph that thecamel-drivers had been talking of the resurrection in the yard behindthe counting-house, and that his clerk's advice to him had been toattend the Sanhedrin, and make plain that his reason for going to Pilateto ask for the body of Jesus was because he did not wish a desecrationof the Sabbath. But he had only met a show of dark faces, and left themeeting in company with Nicodemus. Esora, is our danger as great as thisyoung man says it is? Master, I have always told thee that as soon asJesus leaves Judea he will be safe from violence, from death, and weshall be safe too, but not till then. But how are we to persuade him toleave Judea, Esora? Thou must try, Master, to persuade him, there is noother way. He is talking now with Matred in the kitchen. Ask him to comehere, and thou'lt see, Esora, the sad face that uplifts when I speak tohim of Caesarea. I'll speak for thee, Master, she answered, and going tothe door she called Jesus to them, and when he stood before them shesaid: have I not proved a good physician to thee? To-day thy back givesthee no trouble. Only aching a bit, he answered, from stooping, butthat will pass away. And my balsam having cured thy feet and hands is itnot right that I should take a pride in thee? And, smiling, Jesusanswered: had I voice enough I would call the virtue of thy balsam allover the world. My balsam has done well with thee, but a change isneeded to restore thee to thyself, and seeing a cloud come into hisface, she continued: we weren't talking of sending thee to Caesarea, forit is of little use to send a man in search of health whither he is notminded to go. Our talk was not of Caesarea. But of what city then? Jesusasked, and Esora began to speak of Alexandria, and Joseph, thinking thatshe repeated indifferently all that she had heard of that city from him,interrupted her and began to discourse about the several schools ofphilosophy and his eagerness to hear Jesus among the sages. But whyshould thy philosophers listen to me? Jesus asked. Because thou'rt wise.No man, he replied, is wise but he who would learn, and none is foolishbut he who would teach. If there are learners there must be teachers,Joseph said, and he awaited Jesus' answer eagerly, but Esora, fearingtheir project would be lost sight of in argument, broke in, saying:neither teaching nor learning avails, but thy health, Jesus, andto-morrow a caravan starts for Egypt, and we would know if thou'lt joinit, for one whom thou knowest goes with it, a friend, one Nicodemus, adisciple, whose love for thee is equal to my master's.

  Jesus' face darkened, but he said nothing, and Esora asked him if he didnot care to travel with Nicodemus, and he answered that if he went toEgypt he would like to go with Joseph. But my master has business here,and may not leave it easily. Is this so, Joseph? Jesus asked, and Josephanswered: it is true that I have business here, but there are otherreasons, and weightier ones than the one Esora has put before thee, whyI may not leave Jerusalem and go to live in Egypt. But wouldst thou haveme go to Egypt with Nicodemus, Joseph? Jesus asked, and Joseph could notdo else than say that the companion he would choose would not be onewhose tongue was always at babble. But wilt thou go to Egypt, he asked,if I tell thee that it is for thy safety and for ours that we proposethis voyage to thee? And Jesus answered: be it so.

  Then, Jesus, we'll make plans together, Esora and myself, for thydeparture; and having thanked him, Jesus returned to Matred in thekitchen, and they could hear him talking with her while they debated,and as soon as the kitchen door closed Joseph told Esora that he couldnot break the promise he gave to his father, and it was this verypromise that she strove to persuade him to forgo. For it is the onlyway, she said, and he, agreeing with her, said: though I have promisedmy father not to keep the company of Jesus, it seems to me that I shouldbe negligent in my duty towards Jesus if I did not go with him to Egypt;and Esora said: that is well said, Master, and now we will go to ourbeds. God often counsels us in sleep and warns us against hastypromises.

  And it was as he expected it would be: he was that night disturbed by adream in which his father appeared to him wearing a distressful face,saying: I have a blessing that I would give to thee. There were morewords than this, but Joseph could not remember them; but the words hedid remember seemed to him a warning that he must not leave Judea; andJesus was of one mind with him when he heard them related on theterrace. A son, he said, must be always obedient to his father, and lovehim before other men.

  Whereupon Esora, who was standing by when these words were spoken, wasmuch moved, for she, too, believed in dreams and their interpretation,and she could put no other interpretation upon Joseph's dream than thathe was forbidden to go to Egypt. But Joseph might write, she said, tosome of his friends in Egypt, and they could send a friend, if theywished it, who would meet Jesus at Jericho; and this plan was in disputetill all interest in Egypt faded from their minds, and they began totalk of other countries and cities; of Athens and Corinth we weretalking, Joseph said to Esora, who had come into the room, and of India,of Judea. But if Jesus were to go to India we should never see himagain, she answered. It is thy good pleasure, Master, to arrange thejourney, and when it is arranged to thy satisfaction thou'lt tell me,though I do not know why thou shouldst consult me again. I came to tellthee that one of thy camel-drivers has come with the news that thedeparture of the caravan for Egypt has been advanced by two days. But ifthou'rt thinking of Egypt no longer I may send him away. Tell him toreturn to the counting-house, and that there is no order for to-day,Joseph replied. You will settle the journey between you, Esora said,turning back on her way to the kitchen to speak once more. She wouldhave me go, Jesus said. Put that thought out of thy mind, Joseph repliedquickly, for it is not a true thought. Thou shouldst have guessedbetter; it is well that thou goest, but we must find the country and thecity that is agreeable to thee, and that will be discovered in our talkin the next few days, to which Jesus answered nothing; and at the end ofthe next few days, though much had been said, it seemed to Joseph thatJesus' departure was as far away as ever. It has become, he said toEsora, a little dim. I know nothing, he continued, of Jesus' mind.

  On these words he wen
t to his counting-house distracted and sad,expecting to hear from his clerk that the story of Jesus' resurrectionwas beginning to be forgotten in Jerusalem, but the clerk knew nothingmore, and was eager to speak on another matter. Pilate had sentsoldiers to prevent a multitude from assembling at the holy mountain,Gerezim, for the purpose of searching for some sacred vessels hiddenthere by Moses, so it was said. Many had been slain in the riot, and theSamaritans had made representations to Vitellius, artfully worded, theclerk said, and dangerous to Pilate, for Vitellius had a friend whom hewould like to put in Pilate's place. Joseph sat thinking that it was notat all unlikely he was about to lose his friend and protector, and theclerk, seeing his master troubled, dropped in the words: nothing hasbeen settled yet. Joseph gave no heed, and a few days afterwards amessenger came from the Praetorium to tell Joseph that Pilate wished tosee him. We shall not meet again, Joseph, unless you come to Rome, andyou must come quickly to see me there, for my health is declining. Wehave been friends, such friends as may rarely consist with Roman andHebrew, he said, and the words stirred up a great grief in Joseph'sheart, and when he returned that evening to his house he was overcome bythe evil tidings, but he did not convey them to Esora that evening, northe next day, nor the day afterwards, and they becoming such a greattorment in his heart he did not care to go to his counting-house, butremained waiting in his own rooms, or walking in the garden, startled byevery noise and by every shadow.

  Day passed over day, and it was one of the providers that came to thegates that brought the news of Pilate's departure to Esora, and when shehad gotten it she came to Joseph, saying: so your friend Pilate has beenordered to Rome? He has, indeed, Joseph answered, overcome by theintrigues of the Samaritans, who sought to assemble together, not somuch to discover sacred vessels as to bring about a change ofgovernment. We are beset with danger, Esora, for it has come to my mindthat the stories about the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth may bekindled again, and it will not be difficult to incite the priestsagainst me; everybody is saying that I was the last man to see Jesus,and must know where his body is hidden; that is enough for the priests,and they will send up a band of Zealots to seek him in this garden.There is no place here where we can hide him from them. That is why Ihaven't been to my counting-house for three days, fearing to leave theeand Matred alone with him, for they would surely choose the time when Iwas away in Jerusalem to plunder my house. As he was saying these thingsMatred came into the room with some wood for the fire, but beforethrowing the logs on the hearth that Jesus carried up she looked atthem, and it seemed to Joseph her eyes were full of suspicion, and assoon as she left the room he said: now why did she bring the logs intothe room while we were talking of Jesus, and why did she mention that hecarried them up this afternoon, having felled a dead tree this morning?

  Esora tried to persuade him that his fears were imaginary, but she toofeared that Matred might begin to suspect that Jesus was no ordinarygardener; she had said, ye speak strangely in Galilee, and to kindle thestory again it would only be necessary for somebody to come up to thegates and ask her if one, Jesus, a Galilean, was known to her, one thatPilate condemned to the cross. Her answer would be: there is one herecalled Jesus, he is a Galilean, and may have been on the cross for aughtI know. And such answer would be carried back to the priests, who wouldorder their hirelings to make a search for Jesus, and the master andservant often sat of an evening listening to the wind in the chimney,thinking it was warning them of the raid of the Jews. If a tree fell itwas an omen, and they related their dreams to each other in the alleysof the gardens, till it occurred to them that to be seen in longconverse together would awaken Matred's suspicion. The shutters were putup and they sat in the dark afraid to speak lest the walls had ears.

  Esora, who was the braver of the two, often said, Master, strive toquell thy fears, for the new procurator has given pause to the story ofthe resurrection. We have heard little of it lately, and Jesus isbeginning to be forgotten. Not so, Esora, for to-day I heard--and Josephbegan a long relation which ended always with the phrase: we are besetwith danger. We have been saying that now for a long while, Esoraanswered, yet nothing has befallen us yet, and what cannot be cured mustbe endured. We must bear with him. If, Esora, I could bring myself tobreak all promises to my father and go away with him to Egypt thismisery would be ended. Master, thou canst not do this thing; thou hastbeen thinking of it all the winter, and were it possible it would beaccomplished already. If it hadn't been for that dream--and Joseph beganto relate again the dream related many times before. Forget thy dream,Master, Esora said to him, for it will not help us; as I have said, whatcannot be cured must be endured. We must put our trust in time, whichbrings many changes; and in the spring something will befall; he'll betaken from us. The spring, Esora? And in safety? Tell me, and in safety?Nay, Master, I cannot tell thee more than I have said; something willbefall, but what that thing may be I cannot say. Will it be in thewinter or in the spring? It will be in February or March, she said. Itwas, however, before then, in January (the winter being a mild one, thebirds were already singing in the shaws), that a camel-driver came tothe house on the hillside to tell Joseph that a camel had been stolenfrom them on their way from Jericho to Jerusalem during the night or inthe early morning, and with many words and movements of the hands, thatirritated Joseph, he sought to describe the valley where they pitchedtheir tent. Get on with thy story, Joseph said; and the man told thatthey had succeeded in tracking the band, a small one, to a cave, out ofwhich, he said, it will be easy to smoke them if Fadus, the procurator,will send soldiers at once, for they may go on to another cave, notdeeming it safe to remain long in the same one. Didst beg the camelback from the robbers? Joseph asked, for he was not thinking of therobbery, but of his meeting with Fadus. No, Master, there was no usedoing that. They would have taken our lives. But we followed them,spying them from behind rocks all the way, and the cave having but oneentrance they can be smoked to death with a few trusses of damp straw.But care must be taken lest our camel perish with them. If we could getthem to give up the camel first, I'm thinking--

  It was a serious matter to hear that robbers had again establishedthemselves in the hills; and while Joseph pondered the disagreeabletidings a vagrant breeze carried the scent of the camel-driver'ssheepskin straight into Jesus' nostrils as he came up the path with abundle of faggots on his shoulders. He stopped at first perplexed by thesmell and then, recognising it, he hurried forward, till he stood beforethe spare frame and withered brown face of the desert wanderer.

  Joseph looked on puzzled, for Jesus stood like one in ecstatic visionand began to put questions to the camel-driver regarding the quality ofthe sheep the shepherds led, asking if the rams speeded, if there weremany barren ewes in the flock, and if there was as much scab about asformerly, questions that one shepherd might put to another, but whichseemed strangely out of keeping with a gardener's interests.

  The camel-driver answered Jesus' question as well as he was able, andthen, guessing a former shepherd in the gardener, he asked if Jesus hadever led a flock. Joseph tried to interrupt, but the interruption cametoo late; Jesus blurted out that for many years he was a shepherd. Andwho was thy master? the camel-driver asked; Jesus answered that he wasin those days an Essene living in the great settlement on the easternbank of Jordan. Whereupon the camel-driver began to relate that BrotherAmos was not doing well with the sheep and that some of the brethrenwere gone to the Brook Kerith and had taken possession of a cave in therocks above it. The camel-driver was about to begin to make plain thisAmos' misunderstanding of sheep, but Jesus interrupted him. Who maytheir president be? he asked; and with head bent, scratching his poll,the camel-driver said at last that he thought it was Hazael. Hazael!Jesus answered, and forthwith his interest in the camel-driver began toslacken. The anemone is on the hills to-day, he said, and Joseph lookedat him reproachfully; his eyes seemed to say: hast forgotten so easilythe danger we passed through by keeping thee here, counting it asnothing, so great was our love of thee?--and Jesus
answering that lookreplied: but, Joseph, how often didst thou speak to me of Caesarea,Alexandria, Athens, and other cities. Esora, too, was anxious that Ishould leave Judea ... for my sake as well as yours. India was spokenof, but the Brook Kerith is not twenty odd miles from here and I shallbe safe among the brethren. Why this silence, Joseph? and whence comesthis change of mood? Jesus asked, and Joseph began to speak of theparting that awaited them. But there'll be no parting, Jesus interposed.Thou'lt ride thy ass out to meet me, and we shall learn to know eachother, for thou knowest nothing of me yet, Joseph. Thou'lt bring a loafof bread and a flagon of wine in thy wallet, and we shall share ittogether. I shall wait for thy coming on the hillside. Even so, Jesus, Iam sad that our life here among the trees in this garden should havecome to an end. We were frightened many times, but what we suffered isnow forgotten. The pleasure of having thee with us alone is remembered.But it is true we have been estranged here. May we start to-night? Jesusasked, and Joseph said: if a man be minded to leave, it is better thathe should leave at once.